The Ultimate Test - adopted version
by Ratchet McCloud
Summary: When Mallory is hospitalized with a health emergency, something happens that will test Nosedive's commitment to their relationship. Will Mallory be all right? Will Dive weather the storm? DiveMal, with DukeOC and WingTanya on the side. Story and OC adopted from lovexbeautifulxlife. Rated T for slight language and dramatic scenes.
1. Chapter 1

The Ultimate Test

Copyright 2011-2013

**Hello everyone. Ratchet McCloud here. I'm back, and this time I have a Mighty Ducks: the Animated Series fanfic. Well, actually, the first two chapters originally belonged to lovexbeautifulxlife, but she agreed to let me adopt it. My chapters start at chapter 3.**

**Author's Note: I have made a few cosmetic changes to the adopted stuff, but it has largely remained unchanged from its original form.**

**And now, on with the story.**

Chapter 1

*Mallory's P.O.V.*

This morning, I woke up to the worst pain possible, and it was located around the stomach area. Feeling fine yesterday, I thought nothing of it as I got out of bed and got ready for practice. While walking to the ice, the pain escalated even more, making it difficult to walk most of the time. Nosedive noticed this and grew very concerned.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked as he placed an arm around my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, trying not to alarm him, "my stomach hurts; that's all."

"Are you sure?" he asked, obviously concerned about my well-being, being my fiancé and all. "You don't look okay."

"Yeah, I'm sure." I said with a weak, reassuring smile.

"Okay," he replied, "but let me know if you're not. You don't need to go to practice, you know."

I only nodded, trying not to focus on the sharp pain that was pounding my stomach. Nausea started to set in, making me not feel like eating any breakfast. We walked to the mess hall instead where we found the others eating breakfast before practice. My hand on my stomach, I walked towards them, ignoring the pain. Duke then turned around to see who was there with them.

"Hey, you guys." Duke said. Then he saw my hand on my stomach and wincing in pain. "Mal, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I replied again. "It must be something I ate."

"I hope so." Dive said, leading me to the table, he prepared his and my breakfast.

Breakfast was uneventful and painful for me. I barely ate anything due to my stomach not agreeing with anything that I put in it, which resulted in me excusing myself, going to the bathroom, and throwing up. Again, I thought it was nothing. Once breakfast was done and over with, it was practice time. We walked down to the locker room, only making my pain spasms go in and out moderately.

Mandy, our coach, decided that I had to sit out today's practice after what happened at breakfast. She took my place instead, which made me a little hurt and devastated. I had never missed a practice before and now I had to. The team checked up on me quite often to make sure I was okay. I felt fine while I was sitting down but my stomach was doing flips, making me sick. I had to excuse myself from the sidelines to throw up in the bathroom again.

Before you say the cliché "she must be pregnant" line, I just need to make it clear that I'm not. I had my you-know-what a week ago so now you know that it's not that. This just came up like a bomb going off and I'd suffered worse pain than this. I mean, come on, I'm a military girl; I've been through quite a lot.

I sat back down on the benches, ignoring my pain again as it is slowly got worse and it was moving quite rapidly from the center of my stomach to the side of it. Me not being a worry wart, I laid down on the bench, hoping that it would go away.

Again, my teammates would skate up to me to make sure if I was okay. Nosedive then stopped practice and sat beside me and gave the loving comfort that he has been showing me since early this morning. He didn't want to leave me alone and let me suffer through this pain on my own.

Since we'd gotten together, these are the things that I love about him: his determination; his strength; and bringing out the warm, soft side of him that no one had seen before. He never pushed me into things that I wasn't ready for and vice versa. I guess he took a few pages from Duke's book about relationships. That's another thing that I love about him.

Dive rubbed my back as I winced in pain again; it was growing stronger than ever, even when I coughed while I threw up. I felt hot as well… this wasn't me at all.

"Dive, can you feel my head for a second?" I asked him.

Silently, he placed his ungloved hand to my forehead to feel if I had a fever. It stayed there for a while, not a good sign.

"You feel warm and you're sweating quite a bit." Dive said sympathetically.

I groaned. It was something that I didn't want to hear. He laid my head on his lap and stroked my hair as he called the others. My gut feeling was now telling me that this wasn't something I ate, but I didn't know how serious it was. When Dive laid me down, my back started to hurt and the nausea kicked in again, but I didn't feel like throwing up at that time.

Once the rest of the team was called, they gathered around me to figure out what was the matter.

"Mal feels hot and is sweating. Now she's complaining about her back and the pain on her side getting worse." Dive was saying to the team.

I felt tears forming in my eyes, threatening to fall on my face. I had never been in this much pain before, it was hard for anyone to tolerate and yet it was difficult for anyone to comfort them. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and just cry in pain. But I thought to myself that I needed to be stronger than this. It was hard.

Tanya walked up to me, took her glove off and felt my forehead to feel what Dive was feeling, to see if yes, I was burning up or his hand was just cold. When I saw the look on her face, my face fell.

"We need to get her to the ER and fast. If I'm correct and she has these symptoms of severe stomach pain, fever and throwing up, it can mean that she might have appendicitis."

"A what?" I asked, freaking out a little bit.

"Appendicitis. Means that your appendix is inflamed. If not caught in time, the appendix can rupture and you can die." Mandy replied.

"How did you know about it?" I asked her.

"I went through the same thing and mine had to be removed. I was sixteen at the time."

"You need to get to the hospital fast before it gets worse." Wildwing told me.

Instead of me walking, Dive carried me in his arms as we all walked to the Migrator.


	2. Chapter 2

The Ultimate Test

Chapter 2

(Mallory's P.O.V.)

It wasn't even a half hour before we arrived at the hospital. Still in a lot of pain, I could barely keep myself warm, even though the Migrator's heat was turned full blast. I was still freezing a bit. Being in so much pain, I didn't have any idea what was going on. My mind was racing with a lot of thoughts.

What's going on?

Why is it cold in here?

Am I going to die?

I had no answers as I felt the nurses poking needles in me, placing an oxygen mask near my beak, giving me a bowl just in case I threw up and having someone putting me in a jonnie. I knew that I felt a breeze. But it was nothing compared to the pain that I was feeling.

Pain. That's all I was feeling at that point. I couldn't believe that a military woman like me was at the mercy of pain. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and be left for dead. Now I could feel tears swelling up in my eyes, I was just about to let them fall. Call me a weakling all you want, but I had been holding them back all this time.

I tried to distract myself from the pain, the tears that are falling on my face, and the many questions in my mind by focusing on the posters on the wall, the utensils that are hanging up, and the fact that Nosedive is pacing back and forth next to me. I thought that he was going to wear a hole on the floor if he kept this up.

It felt like an eternity before they left my room. I hate hospitals, the nurses, everything about it. I guess most people hate being here, only because they just don't like to get poked at and get asked very personal questions. Dive had to answer them for me, since I couldn't do that myself.

I looked at Dive while he was talking to the nurses. I have to say that I admire him for being brave at this time. Knowing him, had it been another team mate, he would have been freaking out and running around the pond like a chicken with its head cut off. But no, he had been nothing but brave and had held every emotion in. I feared that he would break at any time and lose his cool, hopefully he doesn't after he speaks to the doctor or somewhere along those lines.

With the team being out in the waiting room, it's also the fact that he's facing this by himself. I would console him and say that everything is going to be okay, but I had to look at things realistically and not sugar coat everything. He knew that I was in a lot of pain and there was nothing that he could do about it only because we don't know what the matter with me is and why I'm in so much pain all of a sudden.

The only thing that I can offer him as assurance and maybe a glimmer of hope is a soft smile on my beak. But that smile was short-lived when the excruciating pain came back in full force, causing him to rush to my side and hold my hand. While I was clenching my teeth in pain, Mandy and Wildwing walked into the room.

"Did the doctor come yet?" Wildwing asked.

Dive only shook his head, trying not to whimper in pain from my hands holding his in a deathgrip, but to no avail. It was only after I had let go that he said, "No, he didn't. He should be here soon."

"Hopefully, he'll be here soon. I can't stand to see her in so much pain." Mandy replied. Just as soon as those words left her beak, _two_ doctors—one male, one female—entered the room. This left me anxious, not knowing what's going on. Even if I knew, I was in too much pain to even care.

"Miss McMallard?" the doctor asked.

"Yeah?" I replied in pain.

"I'm Dr. Calibur and this is Dr. Litaria." Dr. Calibur introduces himself and the female next to him.

"This is my fiancé Nosedive Flashblade, his brother Wildwing and his sister Mandy L'Orange." I said, introducing my future family.

Both doctors shook their hands and then everything turned serious. I think it was more nerve wrecking for them than it was for me.

"What's going on, Doctor?" Dive asked for me as I was grasping his hand in pain.

"Dr. Litaria is the surgeon here at the hospital. It appears that you have appendicitis. It has to be removed."

"Go ahead and do it," I told them. "What are we waiting for?"

"I need you to sign some consent forms before we begin the operation. Once we have those, we can prep you for surgery." Dr. Litaria said, professionally as she handed me a clipboard of paperwork a pen.

I took the pen out of her hand and read the consent forms before signing it. Being a military girl, I learned during the years to read things carefully before signing your life away and I was doing just that. So after reading ever piece of paper, I was prepared to sign it, but the pain was unbearable so I turned the clipboard over to Dive and he signed for me, as he had power of attorney in such matters if I couldn't sign stuff myself.

"Okay, now we're going to prep you for surgery, Miss McMallard," Dr. Litaria said, leaving the four of us alone.

"I'm going to let the others know what's going on." Mandy said, she took my hand and smiled. "You're going to be okay, Mal, I promise." She then squeezed my hand and left.

That left Wildwing and Nosedive in the room. Dive turned to me and squeezed my hand assuringly.

"You're going to be fine." Dive said, with a smile. He kissed me. "I love you."

"I love you too." I said. Then both he and Wildwing left.

As they were leaving, I tried to turn to my less painful side of my body. A lot was going on and not enough time to process it all.

**This marks the end of the adopted material. The next chapters belong to me.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Okay, this is my first chapter for this story. Enjoy!**

Dive's P.O.V.

While Dr. Litaria and a few nurses in hospital scrubs were prepping Mal for surgery, I was pacing nervously back and forth in the waiting room. So many thoughts and emotions were running through my mind during this time.

Was she going to be okay?

Was I going to be okay?

Would everything go smoothly?

What if something goes wrong?

After about twenty minutes of pacing, Wildwing put his hand on my shoulder and guided me towards one of the padded seats. I guess he'd had enough of my pacing. So I sat and waited, but my internal turmoil didn't go away. At one point I felt like screaming bloody murder. But then I thought of Mal and remembered to be strong for her. So I kept thinking that thought over and over: 'Be strong for her, be strong for her, don't cry, don't break, be strong for her, don't swear, don't scream, she'll be all right, be strong, be strong, be strong for her...' It became something like a mantra for me as I waited, and I began to calm down. Finally, at forty minutes, the doors to Mal's room opened up, and we saw the nurses and Dr. Litaria wheeling Mal on a gurney toward the O.R. at a reasonably quick pace. 'So,' I said to myself as the O.R. doors closed behind them, 'it has begun.'

One hour passed. The doors stayed shut.

Two hours passed. One scrub left the O.R. Another entered.

Three hours passed. Nothing exciting happened.

Four hours passed. Still nothing. I began to get worried at this point.

Five hours passed. Still nothing. The inner turmoil threatened to resume.

Finally, at five hours and twenty-six minutes, Dr. Litaria came out of the O.R. and walked toward us. "Mr. Flashblade?"

I winced at the honorific as I stood up. "My dad is Mr. Flashblade, if you don't mind, Doctor," I replied.

"All right. Nosedive?"

"Yes?"

"I'm here to tell you that the surgery is complete and your fiancée's appendix has been removed."

"I sense a 'but' coming, Doctor."

"But a couple complications arose during the surgery."

"Complications?" I began to freak out internally, but somehow kept it together. "Like what?"

"It burst while we were beginning to remove it." I gasped when I heard that. The doctor continued, "We had to act quickly to keep peritonitis from setting in."

"What's that?"

"That's when the internal lining of the abdomen becomes inflamed. It is excruciatingly painful, and if not treated quickly, it can kill you."

"Did you stop it?"

"We did, with about five rounds of antibiotics. Which brings me to the other complication."

My eyes widened. "Which was?" The doctor replied, "She had a bad reaction to the antibiotics and went into anaphylactic shock. It took the rest of those five-and-a-half hours to stabilize her and suture up the incision, but I'm worried that she might not regain consciousness soon, if she ever does."

"What does that mean?" I asked, the concern now evident in my voice.

"It means," the doctor replied, "that she's in a coma. I'm so sorry, Nosedive." Not trusting myself to speak, for fear that I might break if i did, I simply nodded. The doctor laid a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, then went back into the O.R.

**Well, that's my first chapter for this story. Tell me what you think, 'kay?**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

(Dive's P.O.V.)

I don't remember exactly how long I stood there after the doctor left, as I couldn't really process anything for some time. I rather vaguely remember relaying the news to the others and seeing their reactions, then all of us talking with the doctors in Mal's room about what to do, but other than these things, I remember nothing. When I finally regained my awareness, everybody had left and it was just Mal and me in the room. I got out of the chair I was sitting in and stood next to the bed. For what seemed like forever I just stared at my fiancée's unconscious form, and I couldn't help thinking just how vulnerable she looked with that IV drip attached to her arm and feeding tube in her gut. The only thing that let me know that she was still alive was the steady rise and fall of her chest indicating that she was breathing. Eventually I started asking myself the inevitable tough questions: Why me? Why her? Why is life so unfair? What's the meaning of life anyway? While I was pondering these questions, the door opened and an orderly came in. "Mr. Flashblade," she said to me, "I'm here to inform you that this hospital does not allow visitors after twenty-oh-oh, which is in five minutes. This means you'll have to leave." (That's 8 pm, for those of you who aren't familiar with 24-hour time. Yes, hospitals _do_ use 24-hour time.)

Five minutes? That couldn't be right, could it? I looked at my watch and flinched. Sure enough, it said 19:55. What the heck?! I was there for that long?! But I would gladly be there for a year if that's how long it took for her to wake up. So I shrugged and returned my gaze to Mal, not even bothering to look up. Apparently that didn't sit well with the orderly, because she came up to me, grabbed my shoulder roughly, and said in an angry tone, "Hey! Didn't you hear me? I said..."

I looked her directly in the eye. "I _heard_ what you said, ma'am," I cut her off, "but I don't _care_. This woman here is my fiancée. She needs me right now, so I'm staying right here by her side until she comes to, and Stars help anyone who tries to tell me otherwise!" Pausing to look at her nametag, I noted that it read 'Diane H.' "Now, Diane, kindly let go of me or I'll report you for unprofessional conduct."

She immediately let go. "Sorry." After a few moments of awkward silence, she said, "Well, I guess I could let you stay, since you're technically family, but I'll have to clear it with Dr. Calibur first."

"That's fine by me, but I don't think he'd mind me staying very much. He's a pretty nice guy."

"I still have to go through the motions, though. Hospital policy and all that jazz."

"I understand."

And with that, Diane left. She returned a few minutes later with a blanket and a pillow. "He's okay with it," she said.

"I had no doubt."

Diane nodded, then held the blanket and pillow out to me. "These will make you more comfortable."

I received the offered items. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. If you need anything, just press this button..." She indicated a red button on a remote control attached to the bed. "...and I'll be here."

"Thank you, Diane."

"You're welcome. Well, good night." And she left me to my own devices. I pulled the chair up to the bed and sat down, putting the pillow on my lap and draping the blanket over it. I took Mal's hand in mine and stroked it a few times. "I can't believe this happened to you, Mal," I said after a few moments of silence. "And I can't stand seeing you like this. It breaks my heart." My eyes started to feel moist. "You know, Mal, the first time I saw you, I thought that you were the prettiest girl ever." A single tear ran down my cheek. "And I developed a crush on you. But I was young and immature back then. Remember those pranks I used to pull on you, like the worms I put in your boots that one time? (A/N: Referencing an early episode of the canon series.) It was because I didn't know how to tell you how I really felt about you." Another tear. "I mean, we were _teammates_, for Avis' sake! How would _that_ have looked?" Another tear. "But I had nothing to worry about all along; when I got to know you better, and we became friends, I found that you also liked me." Still another tear. "I don't know much about anything, but there is one thing that I _am_ sure of." This time _two_ tears, one from each eye, fell down my face as I reached out my other hand and put it on her hand so that it was 'sandwiched' between my hands. "I love you, Mallory McMallard. I always have, and I always will." I removed one hand briefly to kiss her knuckles, then put my hand back in place. "I can't bear to see you like this, lying here so vulnerable and helpless. It hurts so much! It's like a thousand knives all twisting inside me at the same time!" Another tear from each eye. "And I can't do a damn thing about it!" The tears now flowed freely. "And that's what I hate most about this: feeling powerless to help you, when I'm supposed to be the man and take care of you!" The tears continued to fall; by now my shirt had quite a few tear stains on it. "I know I must look like a total wimp bawling like a hatchling right now, but I can't help it! I'm supposed to be strong for you because you need me now more than ever, but _I_ also need _you_, Mallory. You've been in my life for so long now that I can't imagine living life without you. If you'll just come back to me, I would gladly spend the rest of my life showing you just how much you mean to me." And with that, I cried myself to sleep.

Then I had a nightmare about Mallory dying during the night, which had me popping awake screaming bloody murder. After I realized that it had just been a bad dream, I went back to sleep...

...for about two hours...

...because I had another nightmare. This one had Mallory's coma lasting for years, and when she woke up, the first thing she saw was my badly-decayed corpse, because I had passed away while she was out. That one also had me waking up screaming.

It was pretty much like that for the rest of the night. Every time I tried to get some sleep, a bad dream would cause me to wake up an hour or two later. By the time morning came, I was suffering from slight sleep deprivation.

The next few weeks went by in a kind of haze. I spent the whole time in that chair by Mal's bedside, not moving an inch, except when I had to relieve myself, and even then I used the commode instead of going to the toilet. And every night I cried myself to sleep. Every so often the others would come by to see how Mal and I were doing, and every time they did I was grateful for the company. This continued for thirty-nine days. And what happened on the fortieth day was something to talk about...


End file.
